By the time we walked out of the building where I was being held and made our way towards Tawney's Trinkets, the morning sun had started to light the sky. The sky was aflame with pinks, golds, and amber, and I had a sense of foreboding shiver through me.

The streets were desolate, only hungry eyes of the homeless peered at us through the dark alleyways. The figures weaved through the shadows, keeping us in sight as we marched down the cold, narrow pathway towards Tawney's Trinkets. A low mumble of conversation hummed through the air from the crevices and made my skin prickle with unease.

I kept my gaze forward, as though I was oblivious to the lurkers' plans. But I knew. Much hadn't changed on the streets since I left. The dangerous ones stayed out at night. The ones we children had known to avoid. I passed a look over to Volorn and Axel, seeing if they noticed the excited whispers from around us, but I couldn't read them as they strode confidently beside me.

I chewed on my lip, unsure whether to say anything. Perhaps the shadowed figures could create a distraction and give me an opportunity to flee. As I mused over the possibility, I continued to direct them through the streets, taking turns that looped around to routes we had just walked in a bid to confuse them. I didn't want them knowing a direct route to Tawney's if I could help it.

As we came to a familiar street for the third time around, Axel's lip curled up and he peered at me in silent amusement. "Funny. I feel like I've been here before."

I blinked at him as though confused, and innocently replied, "Many of the streets look the same, sir."

He puffed out a little snort before Volorn's voice cut through the air. "If you want to say goodbye to this friend, you best take us there now before my patience runs out."

I turned my head away to hide the scowl that erupted from my face. "This way."

I tugged on the chain connecting me to Axel with impatience and anger. They jingled together in a soft clang that caused more figures in the shadow to swarm in interest. Probably thinking it was gold.

As we made our way further down the dust-ridden streets, I felt the attention on us grow, and a cold sweat started to break out on my forehead. The people who stayed out at night were not innocent beggars or petty thieves. These were murderers and abusers. They would slice your throat before stealing from you or torture you for the fun of it. I had managed to avoid many things in my life on the streets, but I had witnessed more than a child should. And I could sense an awaiting ambush.

Axel and Volorn grew grim, and they both lowered their hands to their swords at their hips. Slowly, they lifted their weapons from their scabbards, the morning light catching the reflection on the blades. A silent warning to those who dared. The shadows seemed to pause, to assess their prey.

I waited with bated breath to see what they would do whilst thinking of how I could use this to my advantage and escape. I moved a few steps back until I wasn't in their view, giving the impression I was cowering behind them. Instead, I studied the metal clamped around my wrist, giving a few experimental tugs whilst darting a few glances to the men before me, making sure they remained unaware of my small deception.

Volorn flicked a quick look to Axel, who gave a faint nod. Axel turned his head, searching for something before suddenly a mass of figures surrounded us, all armed with deadly weapons. I froze, my muscles bunched up in instinct, forgetting the heavy chain in surprise. I was about to yank my arm and struggle my way out of it in rising terror when a hand was placed on my shoulder.

I jumped and spun around in fright to find Volorn standing over me, his fingers tightening on my shoulder.

"Look," he calmly stated as he turned me towards our ambushers. It was then that I realised the figures surrounding us wore the same armour as Axel. It was as though he had summoned an army.

"Leave us. If you go quietly, you will not be harmed." Axel's voice boomed through the alleyway, echoing off the tall, shoddy buildings that enclosed us.

The shadows stood deathly still, eyes blinking at us in the soft light before slinking back into their dens, leaving us to walk unharmed...and taking my distraction with them.

We stayed in the same position for a little longer to make sure they wouldn't be back before relaxing. The small army that surrounded us vanished as quickly as they came, and I spun around to see where they had gone.

"Let's go," Volorn demanded, giving me a nudge to move me from my frozen state.

I stumbled forward, my feet instinctively taking me to Tawney's as my mind tried to catch up with what just happened.

"What was that?"

Volorn replied, "That was the reason why Ceruleans are a part of this war."

I was intrigued. "What do you mean?"

Volorn impatiently cut through my questions. "All of this will be explained to you later. For now, we are supposed to be saying goodbye to your friend. You best hurry before I break my word because I have run out of patience."

My back stiffened and I clenched my jaw before spinning on my heels and pointing them up to the path towards Tawney's. Volorn's curt tone and orders were a stark reminder that I needed to try to escape them. And soon, whilst I had the opportunity.

The morning light had started to glint onto the cloudy windows of the street, illuminating the worn wood of the doorways to the shops that dotted the neighbourhood. At the end of the street stood my haven, my home.

To Volorn and Axel, it may have looked like a worn-down shack, with paint peeling off its walls, dust covering the windows, and a sign that had seen better days hanging over the door. But to me, it called like a beacon and I quickened my pace as I spotted it in the distant, eager to be home. Even if it was for only a short moment.

I focused on my wrist again. Maybe I could use my powers to change that one part of me, making it so small that the cuffs just slid off.

But as I hurried towards the door, the sense of foreboding struck me again and I scanned the building for any sign of life. My eyes snagged on the door, finding the wood around the handle splintered and the knob hanging uselessly from its socket.

My heart started to thunder, and my mouth dried in an instant. Tawney. I pushed myself forward in a sprint, only to be flung backward at the weight pulling against my wrist. The damn chains.

Desperation clawed at me. "Get me out of these chains. Now!"

The men froze, bringing their weapons back up at my urgency and looked around for any threat. "What is it?" Volorn cautiously remarked.

"What's wrong?" Axel softly asked at the same time.

The words failed to penetrate as panic and worry clawed at me. I yanked against the chain as I tried to run to the shop to make sure Tawney was okay, to make sure everything was fine. That I was worried for nothing.

Blocking out the men around me, I focused on unleashing my powers, moulding my wrist to one of a child, one young enough that the chain slid off harmlessly. As soon as the weight left me, I sprang into action.

A body stepped in front of me, blocking my view of the shop, and I tried to dodge only for strong-banded arms to catch me from the middle, keeping me immobile.

Releasing a scream of frustration and panic, I struggled to get free, unknowingly howling. "Let me go! I need to know he's okay! Let me go!"

Volorn moved in front of me, anger moulding his brow as he thought I had deceived him until he saw the unmistakable panic and desperation within me.

"What is wrong?" Volorn carefully asked.

I dragged my attention to him, trying to clear the buzz of panic that screamed in my head. "The house, it's been broken into. I need to see he's okay. I need to know he's okay."

Volorn turned to study the entrance to Tawney's, finally seeing the broken door softly banging against its frame. Turning back to look at me, he quietly took in my distress and anguish. "You can't just rush in there unprepared. It will help no one if you're injured too. I'll go check on the house, you and Axel will stay here until I say it's clear."

Volorn strode away whilst Axel loosened his grasp across my middle, but he placed his hands on my shoulders in a relentless grip. He watched the vandalised shop as his general walked in with his sword held high. "Has the shop ever been broken into before?"

"No, it's a hovel. No one even buys anything from there. It's got nothing of use in it." I answered back tensely, not taking my gaze away from the entrance.

"Then why have a shop?" Axel asked in confusion.

I ignored him, my brain only focused on one thing. "I need to get in there."

Axel gave a squeeze of his hands on my shoulders in a gesture of comfort. "Volorn knows what he's doing. It's what we are trained for."

I opened my mouth to argue, only for him to cut me off. "As soon as it's clear, you can approach."

I nodded back at him, not hearing his words as the urgency rose within me. I purposefully relaxed my body and waited for his grip to loosen enough for me to bolt towards the door.

It only took a moment for him to softened his grip before my feet flew across the ground. I sped towards my home, preparing myself to fight any who may be waiting inside. I heard a curse behind me, followed by the chinking metal as Axel ran to catch up with me just as Volorn's urgent voice erupted from the house.

"Axel, get in here."

I pushed myself harder in growing terror until I bashed in the door, tearing it away from its frame as it slammed into the wall with force.

I stood braced in the doorway, waiting for an attack as I looked around the tiny shop. Thankfully, a startled Volorn didn't attack me. Instead, he had his back to me, huddling over something on the floor, an odd violent and silent atmosphere surrounding the area.

Our hoarder's trove was ransacked. The broken mirrors that usually lined the walls were splayed all over the floor, reflecting the shops wrecking in its shattered pieces. Splinters of wood and clothing lay discarded, as though they were thrown about in the midst of a raid. Tables, books, and other unimportant treasures were scattered around the room, carelessly discarded.

I trailed my eyes further, finding chunks of wood missing from the tabletops, hacked at by sharp weapons that spoke of destruction. Of a battle.

And in the midst of all this sabotage, as I walked towards Volorn, I noticed Tawney.

His old figure lay crumpled on the floor, a pool of blood emitting from his battered body and crusting into his grey mane of hair. The wet, rattling sound of his laboured breaths coloured the air, and I stood frozen in shock in the doorway.

Axel rushed up behind me as I stared in motionless horror at my beloved adopted father dying on the floor.

At the sound of the horrified strangled noise emitting from my throat, Tawney painstakingly lifted his eyelids and slid this gaze over to us standing in the doorway.

"F...F...Fawn," he quietly gasped, shaking me out of my stupor. I ran over to him, raking my eyes over his wounds as Volorn tried to staunch the blood from leaking.

Tawney's clothes were covered in red from where he had been repeatedly stabbed through the chest. The wheezing that came from his breath told me of the blood that filled his lungs, of the pain and suffering he was enduring.

The knowledge that he didn't have long, that there was no way to fix this, shattered through my mind and tears rushed into my view, blurring everything around me.

"F...Fawn."

A shaky hand encrusted in red came up to cup my face, and I tried to blink away the fountain of tears that streamed into my eyes.

Although he was in great pain and his old, wrinkled face held a waxy white sheen, he gave me a beautiful smile that caused a sob to choke out of my throat.

"Yo...you...your t...true...f...face...you...f...f...found...it." He wheezed, choking on the air and blood in his throat.

Confusion swarmed me, unsure of what he was talking about. But I ignored that and asked, "Tawney, what happened?"

But he continued to lovingly gaze at me. "Y...you lo...look...j...just...l...like your...f...fa...father."

"My father?" My face bunched up and I slid a hand over his that cradled my cheek, painfully wishing this was all a terrible dream.

"My...my...son," he rattled.

His words resonated through me, shredding something inside me. His son, the soldier? The one who was killed with his love in a tragic death?

All of a sudden, nothing made sense to me, and I shouted at him, "Tawney, what happened?!"

I needed to know, I needed to make sense of this. I needed help to understand how everything had gone so terribly wrong, how once again my life could be turned upside down in a matter of hours.

A sliver of clarity reached his eyes, and he reached into his clothing, grasping a broken chained pendant that lay limply around his neck. "Ta...take this."

He lifted the pendant into the light. On the pendant of the necklace was a large gem, beautiful gold in colour that seemed to flicker as though it was made of liquid. As he pushed the stone into my hand, it seemed to warm, and the liquid fire within swirled before becoming static again.

"T...they...wan...wanted it. Bu...but they...can...can't have it. I...it's yours...your....mo...mother's."

I stared at the necklace, a faint niggling feeling in the back of my mind telling me I had seen it before. That I knew of this necklace. I looked up to Tawney's face to ask him more only to find the struggle for life was taking him away from me.

"Tawney? Tawney!"

He looked into my eyes one last time before letting out a shuddering breath. Slowly, the light went out of his eyes, his chest stopped moving, and time stopped around me.